By Rachel Caton
The Bears’ offense took over as they blasted 14 runs on a season-high 22 hits to take the rubber game over visiting Cal Poly, 14-3, on Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.
The Bears (13-5) were led by Andy Thomas, who was 5-for-5 on the day with one RBI, and four of those hits were doubles. Davis Wendzel led the team with 4 RBIs on 3-for-5 hitting, including a three-run home. Nick Loftin and Richard Cunningham each had three hits on the day and Loftin and Cole Haring each blasted their third home runs of the season.
Overall, all nine batters in the lineup had at least one hit on the day, with six having multi-hit performances. Also, eight-of-nine batters had at least one RBI.
For the second-straight game Cal Poly (7-11) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but today the Bears were able to answer in a big way. After the Mustangs plated a run in the top of the second inning, the Bears answered with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the second inning. The Bears plated five runs on four hits in the inning. Wendzel brought home the game-tying run on an RBI single, before Davion Downey followed with two RBIs on a single of his own. Haring them stepped into the box and launched his third homer of the year, a two-run shot to left to put the Bears up, 5-1.
The Bears were not done, however, as they added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. After back-to-back one-out singles from Cunningham and Loftin, Wendzel had an incredible at-bat, where he launched two would-be home runs, but both were foul, before straightening it out for a three-run shot, his third homer of the year.
Up 8-1 in the fifth, the Bears were cruising on the mound, as starter Tyler Thomas went 2.0 innings before giving way to Blake Helton, who tossed a career-high 4.0 scoreless innings.
The Bears added six more runs in a huge sixth inning where the Bears batted around. Loftin led off the inning with a solo home run, his third of the year to make it 9-1. Then with a runner on second and one out, Thomas delivered his fourth double of the day, this one an RBI double to make it 10-1. With two on and two out, Josh Bissonette delivered his second triple of the year to drive home two more. The two-out rally continued as Chase Wehsener singled through the right side to bring home the sixth run of the inning, giving the Bears a 14-1 lead.
On the mound, Daniel Caruso made his second appearance in as many days, tossing one scoreless inning before giving way to Anderson Needham who put up a zero in the eighth.
In the ninth inning, the Mustangs collected two runs on two hits off Nick Loftin to make the final score, 14-3.
Helton earned his first collegiate win in the victory, while Mustangs starter Darren Nelson took the loss to fall to 1-3.
The Bears head out on the road for a contest at Sam Houston State on Tuesday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m. CT, before returning to Baylor Ballpark to open Big 12 play on Friday, March 22 vs. West Virginia at 6:35 p.m. CT.
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